As the relationship between China and the United States is increasingly becoming that of the top two world powers, and China’s global and regional impact continues to grow, the international community is increasingly concerned about the direction of Sino-American relations. It was against such a backdrop that China has actively advocated the building of a “new-type of major-country relationship” between the two countries, the connotations of which, in President Xi Jinping’s own words, are “no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation”. The goal of such a relationship is to strive for the two parties’ peaceful co-existence, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and engaging in benign interaction and common progress.

The essence of this goal is to take advantage of economic globalization and the mutual dependence between the two countries, to make sure that the established dominant power in the current international system and the emerging power jointly and reasonably share international authority and responsibilities, and that the two nations will avoid repeating the zero-sum games, even head-on collisions, as has happened between existing and emerging powers in the past. The “new-type of major-country relationship” between China and the United States is both the call of our time of globalization, and a significant innovation in international relations theories and strategies, demonstrating both China’s sincere wishes for peaceful development and a proactive diplomatic style in the new era.

The building of the “new-type of major-country relationship” entails more than good intentions. It also calls for squarely facing reality. Currently there are two major obstacles from the United States and “third parties.”

First of all, in contrast to the consistence between words and deeds on the Chinese side, the US side has displayed an inconsistency between what it says and what it does. The United States continues to see China as a main challenger of its hegemonic status, and thus has upgraded various countermeasures against China’s “catch-up” strategy in its peaceful development. Such endeavors are embodied in the following “six new tactics”:

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